Calling Kim's Bluff

North Korea is manufacturing a crisis to extort more cash.

April 2, 2013 6:58 p.m. ET

North Korea continued its barrage of threats on Tuesday by announcing that it will restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor to produce more plutonium for bombs. Right on cue, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared that Korean tensions are so high that the world must negotiate with dictator Kim Jong Eun.

That is exactly the payoff the North wants. Pyongyang claims to be outraged by the U.N. sanctions approved after its February 12 nuclear test, as well as by the annual military exercises between U.S. and South Korean...